Gate-latch



(ModeL) M f w MARTIN.

GATE LATCH- No. 250,742. Patented Dec. 13,1881.

mannnll lllllmll".

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL W. MARTIN, OF SPRINGFIELD, OH IO.

GATE-LATCH.

SPECIFICATION. forming part of Letters Patent No. 250,742, dated December 13, 1881. Application filed August 22, 1881. (ModeL) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL W. MARTIN, of Springfield, in the county of Clarke, and State of Ohio, have invented certain Improvements in Gate-Latches, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide a latch, or latch-operatin g device particularly adapted for use upon metal gates, which shall be exceedingly simple and durable.

To this end it consistsin the combination of a forked frame provided with inside journals cast thereon, and a hand-piece which is applied and secured to the arms of the frame, after the latter is applied to the gate, to serve the several purposes of a hand-piece and as a means of securing the frame in position.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of my de vice applied to a gate; Fig. 2, a horizontal section of the same on the line 00 00, looking upward; Fig. 3, a perspective view, showing the device detached and disconnected.

In the drawings, A represents the frame of the gate, which may be of any ordinary or suitable construction and B represents the usual latch-spring, arranged in an upright position on the front of the gate to engage with a catch or detent.

My device is intended as a convenient means of drawing the latch-spring backward to re lease the gate. v

The device consists, as shown, ofa U-shaped frame or stirrup, 0, provided on its inner sides, near its middle, with two trunnions, a, and of the hand-piece D, provided on the inside with a socket or stirrup to receive the arms of the part G.

The device is applied by drilling two holes or sockets in opposite sides of the fence-post or gate-frame, applying the frame 0 astride of the spring and the post, as shown, and seating thetwo trunnions in the holes in the post or gate-frame, as shown in Fig. 2, and subsequently applying the hand-piece over and around the two ends or arms of the frame, and bending the ends of the latter outward, as shown in Fig. 2, to prevent the hand-piece from escaping. V

It will be seen that the trunnions support the device in position upon the post, serving as pivots upon which the device can rock when the hand-piece is depressed, and that the handpiece holding the two ends of the frame serves to keep the trunnions in position in the frame. When the hand-pieceis depressed the forward end of the frame is thrown inward and caused to operate the latch-spring.

The device may be varied in form if desired, provided the essential features above described and the mode of action set forth are retained. In some cases it may be desirable to have the trunnions applied to or cast upon the gate, and the latch-frame provided with bearing-sockets to receive the same; but for ordinary purposes the construction represented in the drawings is prefer-red.

My invention includes the device provided with bearings, whether in the form of trunnions or of holes to receive trunnions.

The device is preferably of malleable iron or other suitable material which will permit it to be sprung into place around the gate.

The frame or stirrup G and the hand-piece D jointly form. a device which may be sold in the market as an article of manufacture, and applied by the ordinary mechanic to existing gates.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is t 1. As a new article of manufacture, a latchoperating device consisting of a forked frame provided with central bearings, and a handpiece adapted for application thereto, substantially as described and shown.

2. Thecombination ofthe gate provided with sockets, the latch-spring, the forked or U- shaped latch-frame provided with inside trunnions, and the hand-piece applied to and secur ing the ends of the frame, substantially as shown.

SAMUEL W. MARTIN.

Witnesses GoMER E. HIGHLEY, O. O. KIRKPATRICK. 

